Anti-Card Check Video Game Portrays Union Reps As Thugs (Again)

July 15, 2009 9:36 am ET —
Matt Finkelstein

Opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act has, of late, devolved into all-out union bashing. It's no longer about protecting the secret ballot, workers' rights, or even small business. The strategy now is simply to depict labor leaders as thugs.

In the game, the user plays a tattoo artist working in an
environment where the Employee Free Choice Act has become law. Union representatives follow you around
trying to intimidate you into signing a card.
If you refuse, they ramp up their threats and turn to violence. At one point, a pro-union co-worker is
described as specializing in "peace signs, rainbows, and other unoriginal and
conformist hippie symbols."

Once the union is recognized, the labor bosses use your dues
for buying luxury goods and going on vacation.
Eventually, the union does so much damage that the shop is forced to
close and you're out of a job. The
game's final screen reads, "GAME OVER, You Lose!"

All that said, "Card Checked" isn't really much of a
game. As Eddie Vale of the AFL-CIO said,
"I'm not sure if this 'game' is part of Michael Steele's hip hop revolution but
it's just as lame. As anyone who actually grew up playing Atari or Nintendo
will know, calling this a video game is as accurate as their lies about the
Employee Free Choice Act, which would help grow the middle class and make the
economy work for everyone again."